Page 33 of To Love a Monster (Oaths & Obsessions #1)

I will get her back, and when I do? I’ll make sure he dies begging.

The scream rips out from my throat before I can stop it.

Raw and unfiltered, a sound I didn’t even know I was capable of making.

It tears through me as I slam my fist into the floorboards, once, twice, a third time, until my knuckles split and the blood smears red against the grain.

I can’t stay here, can’t break. Not now, not when she’s still out there. I drag in a breath, my fist still planted on the floor, trembling. My vision blurs from the deep feeling of failure.

I fucked up. I underestimated him and I let her down. But this isn’t over.

I will burn through every mile, every building, every body that stands in my way. I’ll set the entire world on fucking fire city by city until I find her. I reach for the phone with bloodied fingers and call Matteo. He answers on the first ring, his voice laced with anxiety. “Where is she?”

“They took her,” I choke. My voice doesn’t sound like it belongs to me. It's like it’s been dragged across gravel and broken glass. “It was Carl. He took her and left a message. He, fuck , he looped the cameras linked to my device. She was alone. I wasn’t fast enough.”

There’s a pause on the line, a silence thick enough to drown in. Then Matteo’s voice cuts through, steady and controlled. “How bad is it?”

“It’s bad, Matteo. Really fucking bad.” I grit out, my jaw aching from how tightly it’s clenched. “He’s planning to move her and sell her to a buyer. There’s one waiting for her. And he made sure I saw it all. He trapped her, knocked her out.”

“You’re spiraling, you’re of no use to her if you let your emotions get the best of you.” Matteo snaps. “Breathe. Now tell me what he said. All of it.”

I do. Every word. “He knew I cloned his phone. Said it felt off, said he figured someone was piggybacking his signal and decided to have some fun with it. He jammed the network and blocked the feed, made sure I couldn’t see anything until it was too late.

” My hand curls tighter around the cracked edge of the phone.

“He talked like he’d already won. Said he’d give her a proper sendoff before she’s sold. ”

There’s a beat of silence and my voice drops lower as I speak again.

“And then he looked straight into the vent cam. Told me if I want to say goodbye I know where to find them.” I swallow hard.

My hand shakes. “It’s the same place Jake was killed.

I’m going to get her back, Matteo.” I say.

“Whatever it takes. Even if I have to walk through hell to do it, even if I don’t walk back out. ”

“Nikolai—” Matteo starts, his voice warning but I just talk over him.

“I mean it.” My voice is steel now. “Whatever Carl thinks he started tonight? I’m going to finish it. With my hands, with his blood.”

Matteo exhales sharply, “Then pull yourself together,” he snaps.

“Because she doesn’t need your rage, she needs your precision.

” I bite down hard enough I taste copper.

“Now listen to me,” Matteo says. His voice sharpens, commanding and focused.

“I’ve got eyes on something. A lead, I’m working on it as we speak. .”

My heart kicks. “What kind of lead?”

“Just trust me,” he snaps. “I’ve got a plan, but you need to wait.”

“Wait?” My voice breaks on the word. “She’s out there. Alone, bleeding, probably worse, and you want me to fucking wait ?”

“Twenty minutes,” Matteo says. “That’s all I ask for.

I’m sending backup, the gear’s en route and there’s a tactical team on standby.

But you need. To. Hold.” I don’t answer at first, I’m already moving, grabbing my coat off the floor where I dropped it, keys clenched tight in one hand, phone pressed to my ear with the other.

“You say you give a damn,” I mutter as I throw open the cabin door.

“What did you just say to me?” The night air hits like ice and I cross the porch in three strides, boots slamming against the wood.

“If it were someone you truly cared about, you wouldn’t be telling me to fucking wait.

” I shove the car door open, drop into the driver’s seat, and jam the key into the ignition. “You’d already be kicking down doors.”

Matteo’s voice drops low, razor-edged. “Don’t you fucking go there,” he says as the engine growls to life. I throw it into gear, one hand still gripping the phone.

“You know what can happen in twenty minutes, Matteo.” I lean forward, knuckles bone-white on the dash. “You know exactly how long that is in the wrong hands. She doesn’t have twenty minutes.”

“And you walking in blind and alone does what?” he fires back. “You think they won’t expect that? You show up alone, they kill you. Then what? She’s gone for good and you’re just another fucking body on the floor.”

“She’s there because of me.” I shout, my voice breaking. “Because I let her walk into this thinking I would protect her and I didn’t!”

“Nikolai—” He starts but I don’t let him finish.

“I’m not asking, Matteo. I’m telling you that I am going there. Backup or no backup.” There’s a breath on the line.

“I’m ordering you to stand down,” Matteo snaps. “You wait for the call. You wait for the team. This is my daughter’s life. I am giving you an order.”

I slam my fist into the dash. “Fuck you and your order.” And I end the call.

****

T he parking lot is empty and the old hardware store looms ahead with its paint peeling like scabbed-over skin. The windows are closed and it seems like there’s not a single soul on the property but me.

It’s clearly a trap, and every part of me knows it. Feels it. But if she’s in there, if there’s even just a small chance that she’s in there, then I’m walking in without hesitation. I just hope Matteo sends people in before it’s too late.

I kill the engine and leave the key in the ignition.

I scan the lot but there’s no movement. No guards, no cars, just the wind dragging dust in lazy spirals across the concrete.

Then I see it, the silhouette on the roof.

The floodlight flickers once and casts just enough of a glow to make out the outline of a figure slumped and bound in a chair.

The shape’s too far to make out features but my gut twists hard enough to bruise.

Before I can move, my phone buzzes. The words Unknown number flashes across the screen and I answer without hesitation.

“Where is she?” I say and my heart clenches as screaming floods the line.

High pitched and raw. The kind of sound that cuts right into my heart and makes my skin tingle.

Because even though it’s distorted through the static, I can hear it’s Lila.

“Easy, darling,” a woman’s voice coos on the other end, crisp and cold. “We wouldn’t want you breaking before he gets a proper last look at you.”

My pulse spikes as I recognize the voice on the other line. One I thought I’d never hear again. “Annalise.”

“Nikolai,” she purrs. “I was starting to think you wouldn’t show, my love.” She chuckles, “But you’re late. And she’s running out of time. Tick-tock, tick-tock.”

“If you touch her,” my voice breaks, raw with fury, “I swear to God, Annalise—”

“Oh, sweetheart,” she says, her voice slicing through the line like a knife, “If I really wanted to hurt her, you’d already be scraping what’s left off the floor.

” The smile in her voice sharpens. “She’d be a memory, nothing but a pesky red stain jumbled among mangled flesh and bone. And you know it.”

My grip tightens around the phone, rage clawing at the back of my throat, feral and useless. Above me, the figure on the roof remains still.

My heart thunders in my chest, a brutal rhythm of rage and dread. “You always did love playing the hero, didn’t you?” Annalise murmurs, almost fondly. “Like a knight in bloodstained armor. But I know better, I know what you are. What you’ve done. What you’re capable of.”

I say nothing, just focusing on breathing as she carries on. “I remember the real Nikolai. The one who left bodies in his wake like meaningless breadcrumbs.”

I close my eyes, jaw clenched so tight I feel it crack. “You don’t know who I am anymore.”

“Oh, but I do.” Her tone lifts, sharp as a blade. “You’re still the same monster. You’ve just found a prettier cage to rattle in. But if you really want your little pet?” A soft laugh slithers down the line. “Then come get her.”

I glance at the clock. Matteo’s team is still minutes out. Too long for me to wait.

“I’m coming,” I say, voice low and steady.